Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 397 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Sentry Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,441 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 397 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWS Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,254 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $780,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,835,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 66,680 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $15,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,209 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,162 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $758,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in Progressive by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,808 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,152,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PGR. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.12.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $272.91 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $159.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $247.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $249.74. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $186.94 and a fifty-two week high of $275.52.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $2,194,878.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,691,485.60. This trade represents a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total transaction of $952,416.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,645,222.40. The trade was a 8.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Company Profile

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.